Dash is nine months old!

What??!!??
Seriously.. Guess I better start thinking about little man's first birthday party. He'll be nine months this Saturday while I'm away with my girls for the weekend, so I'm doing this one early.

He is still sporting size 3 diapers. After his surgery he lost a pound, so after our appointment on the 3rd I'll post his weight. Hopefully he's back up above 18 pounds.

Dash is able to go three, four or sometimes longer between nursing sessions. He's nursing about four times a day with a before bed nurse and a just waking up nurse.
He still loves solid food, especially after he got his appetite back following surgery. He's still eating purees and some puffs, since he has no teeth!

We haven't tried too many new foods in the last month, again mainly because of the surgery and recovery.

Hmm. this seems like a repetitive post but following surgery we had to go back to some sleep training. For day naps, I rock him, nurse him if he's due for a nurse, and put him in bed sleepy. He cries when I lay him down but mostly as I leave the room he's settled. He just started sleeping better at night (only to have caught a cold today, so we will see if that continues).

We are on a much more consistent nap schedule for both Delaney and Dash and we're able to balance them so that our day doesn't revolve around naps.

We still have a momma's boy on our hands, but I think we "might" be coming out of the fog. I think crawling will help us with that.

Dashy is still avoiding tummy time, but I think he's doing it for longer stretches than last month. He rolls where he wants to go and looking at how he's starting to work on crawling, I think he might be an army crawler.
A big development: he stood up supported on his play table today. I snapped a picture but his head was moving and it didn't come out.

He has beautiful green eyes, and dark curly hair. His hair is the hit wherever we go.
and no teeth. not even a nubbin. oh well, one day, right?

Dash now knows and does the following signs: more, all done, "yay" (clapping), and "hi" and "bye".

Dash and I go with just each other to babygym twice a week while Delaney goes to Murphy's house for lunch and I think we're both loving the mommy/son time.

mama's getting away this weekend

and I'm getting excited. But I'm also feeling really anxious. I'm hoping that Dash will take the formula, since I wasn't able to pump enough breast milk for him.
I have no fears or anxiety about Zap taking care of them for 48 hours on his own. I mean, that's why I had kids with the man, right?
I know that my anxiety is coming from the fact that I won't be in control while I'm gone. That's it. I'm not worried about what the kids will or won't eat, what they'll wear, what they'll do, or anything else. Just that I won't controlling what they eat, wear, and do.
I'm going with a group organized by my friend Christa and its about getting our "GLOW" back in our life. It's needed. It's time I take a break from these little guys. Some days can be rough.
Except that today was a great day and I'm totally rethinking it :)
We'll be going to a cabin about an hour and a half away and we have no agenda for the weekend except to enjoy the company, read books, and enjoy relaxing.
I'll be sure to post pictures!

woah. we've been busy.

and crazy.

On Monday, April 12th, Dash started getting very fussy around 9am. I put him down for his usual nap, but he wouldn't sleep. I went into his room to check his diaper and once I opened the diaper, things just didn't look right. After watching things for a while, I noticed that his scrotum had started to swell on one side, so I grabbed Delaney and we all rushed to our pediatrician.
They got us in and we saw Tammy, one of the nurse practitioners. Tammy looked at Dash, who by this time was pale and sleepy. I was really starting to get scared.
Tammy believed that Dash has a twisted testicle and called Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital, in Tacoma, to let the ER know that we were headed in.
I called Zap at work, who thankfully had driven that day, and asked him to meet us there. My mom was on her way down to us, so she just met us at the ER. Jerry, Zap's dad came along as well so that he could watch Delaney and help out and be there for us.
We got checked into the ER around 11:30 and by this point, Dash was pale and scary lethargic. This was no longer my child.
The ER doctors immediately recognized it as a hernia and they talked to us about how to place it back into the correct place. At first they tried it without sedation, which seemed like it was worth a shot, but the hernia wasn't budging. Then we headed to ultrasound so they could visualize the hernia. After that, and remember that few things happen quickly in an ER unless you are critical, we went back to the room and they sedated Dash to attempt to manually reposition the hernia.
This was hard to watch, but I wanted to stay in the room while he was under sedation. It seemed like those ER doctors were pressing so hard on his scrotum, but they said that it just looked painful. I just knew he'd have bruises after, but he didn't.
They were able to manually fix the hernia and after another ultrasound to verify their work, I was able to nurse Dash. After he nursed, he was back to his old self, which was so reassuring for us. We left the ER around 5:30, so it was a very long day for us all.
They let us know that he would need surgery, and I think I was expecting a few weeks out. Before we checked out, the surgeon came in and said "I've got you scheduled for 8AM this Wednesday".. What?? Already?? Ok. I'm just processing this experience and now I've got to process putting my infant under sedation again and letting you cut into him??

So bright and early Wednesday morning, Zap, Dash and I headed back out to Mary Bridge. Thanks for friends and family, Delaney stayed with Grandpa and our friends Natalie and Emma.

We got checked into our personal surgery room and Dash thought it was a great day.

(the picture was taken from my iphone, sorry for the quality).

We spoke with the surgical nurse, the surgeon, and the anesthesiologist before they took Dash back. I knew I'd be okay with everything until they took him away. I'm just never not near the kids and it is so hard to be away. He went right back with the nurse and they sent us to the surgery room.
We were able to watch his status on a tv in the waiting room. It changed from "in OR" to "incision closing" and when it switched to "recovery room" the waiting room volunteer came to get us. We sat in a conference room and talked to the surgeon. Everything went well and just like she expected.
Right after that, we headed to recovery to see him. He was looking a little groggy, but he snuggled and nursed right away. The anesthesiologist had given him a pain/feeling block so his legs were HEAVY! We spent about fifteen minutes in recovery with him then we all went down to our original surgery room so that he could be observed another hour.

He did really well with everything. We kept him on Tylenol and Motrin the first few days, but a few days after surgery he seemed to be feeling much better. He seemed to be a new baby; he was less fussy and clingy than he typically is.
Starting about five days after surgery though, he started to come back to fussiness. We're still working it out and we've seen the surgeon once about it. She said he looks great and that he seems like a little guy who is four weeks past surgery, not one. We've also been seeing our pediatricians and some theories we are working on is that he's coming out of the anesthesia still and having some stomach upsets from that.

Delaney has been doing well. She learned to sing "Sally the camel has two humps" and it is so adorable to hear her sing it.
We're working through some tantrums and trying to figure out the best way to let her have some independence in small tasks through the day.
She's working on riding a tricycle and pedaling the wheels.

That's about it. I'm off to take Dash to a follow up appointment today.

Easter 2010

We had a great Easter as a family. The Easter Bunny visited and hid all of Delaney's eggs and left Delaney, Dash, and even Mama some really wonderful Easter baskets.
However, I do remember asking the Easter Bunny to pass me by this year. He didn't, but I'm not going to complain about some incredibly tasty chocolate. Persistent bunny :)

Delaney hunted for eggs in the early morning, then my mom joined us to go to the Easter service at our church. We had a great time at the church service and after being away for a few weeks, it was nice to get back and see everyone. After church and some socializing, we came back home for naps.




Following our naps, we all went to Joyce and Jerry's home to do Easter with the Riecken side of our family. We had so much fun, laughing and talking with everyone. Delaney hunted eggs with Lance and we all ate a wonderful dinner.



I've got some great new pictures to add, but because there's so many, I'm going to put them in smaller. If you want to view them larger, click on them :)

life with an eight month old :)

Dash turned eight months old yesterday and we spent the day at the Seattle Aquarium with my mom and our friends Kate, Mike, and Bridget, who were visiting from Las Vegas.
Delaney enjoyed the aquarium, but I think she enjoyed the space to run around in and the touch pools most of all.



Dash continues to wear size 3 diapers; He was 18 pounds 11 ounces on the 19th, so I'm sure that by his nine month appointment he will have crossed into 19 pounds.

He nurses every three to four hours now. He's loving solid food. His favorite is the zwieback toast. He can put it away!
He loves oatmeal and he's enjoying the mixes I made for him the other day. I made chicken, broccoli, zucchini, carrots, potatoes, corn, green beans, and brown rice. Then I mixed all those up into various batches (i.e. green beans, brown rice, and chicken stock). He eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner in solids and snacks on puffs and zwieback toast.
Dash is still a very sweet and gentle nurser.

Zap is sleep training Dash to fall asleep on his own at night and it seems to be going well. He goes to bed around 7pm and he wakes up around 6. He does sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, but he is able to go back down on his own with not too much work.
Naps are another story; I'm still typically putting him to sleep and laying him in bed then. I'm still struggling with a consistent nap and activity schedule for both kids.

Dash continues to be a mommy's boy. I'm not sure if it's his personality or if he's going through some separation anxiety. We've had some hard days here because it seems he cries unless he's being held and that can be frustrating. He's doing some floor play time and I'm working on putting him into his jumper to work on supporting his weight on his feet; which is another skill he's having a hard time with.
Dash has mastered rolling and uses this skill to avoid tummy time :) He is able to roll where he wants to go and he can push up and go in a circle.

Dash's eyes are more green most days now. His hair continues to be dark and has some curl to it. It's pretty awesome.

Still no teeth. Maybe that's good for our continued nursing. Maybe by 9 months?

AND... the big development!! Dash signed "more" at the aquarium yesterday!!! He apparently loves fish and found them motivating enough to sign for and was quickly rewarded with more fish!! I was so proud of him, but it did make me wonder what else he knows that he's been hiding.

life with a two year old

Started bright and early on March 18th, 2010. :)
That day, Delaney and I went to have her pictures taken with our wonderful photographer.
Delaney did great and she was quite the model. I came home with 130 pictures on my cd and I can't decide which are my 20 or so favorite.


After pictures, we hung around the house until nap. Following nap, we had our "friends" birthday party. Our theme this year was "bus/road/etc" and Zap made wonderful decorations for the party. Delaney and her friends, Maisy, Brynn, and Murphy, all hopped on a city bus (with parental escorts) and took a ride. They really enjoyed it. We stopped and had a bag lunch at the bus depot and then hopped a bus back home. After we got home, we did cupcakes and presents.
A little later, Delaney's friends Emma and Kai came over for some more cupcakes and presents.

Delaney seemed to have a wonderful birthday. I'm glad her day was so special.

I've been telling everyone how last year when Delaney turned one, she started walking soon after. It seemed as though she got the "memo". You know, one year olds walk, I should get on this. This year, the memo must have read that two year olds are willful and independent. She seems to have fully hit two. In some ways, it is so much fun. She's talking so much, repeating EVERYTHING you say.
One of my favorite things she's doing is how she "reads" Goodnight Moon. She knows the last word to every line, so as you read, she finishes the line (Mom: and a comb and a BRUSH (Delaney's part) and a bowl of MUSH (Delaney's part).

The harder part of the two's is that she is just wanting to be so independent but not always having the words or the skills to do so. We were getting ready to go to the dentist and Delaney lost control and went straight into a code red tantrum. She wanted to continue to wash her hands and we needed to go. Eventually I put her in her playroom (where she's gated in) and let her run out of steam. We talked after about the tantrum and how she was so mad and sad. She just doesn't have the vocabulary to express those feelings; it's hard on both ends I think.

Overall, I love having a two year old. She's just so much fun. Daily (well, sometimes hourly) she does something that makes you laugh out loud.

Dash is doing good as well. I think we're struggling with some separation anxiety and he seems to only want to be with me. Some days it feels like either I carry him all day or he cries all day. He gets pretty heavy by about two or three in the afternoon. I also think his personality plays into it and that's fine, but I'm starting to be worried about his ability to separate and I'm a little concerned about his gross motor development. He's refusing tummy time (by rolling over everytime) and he's not putting any weight onto his legs. I know that every child has different achievement ages for their milestones, but I don't want to see him slip behind because he's having such a hard time separating.
My plan of attack with all of this with him is to get him into babygym (starting April), start pumping some breastmilk to put into bottles for him so that others can feed him, and start really pushing him to progress a little further.

I have to run; I'm going to work on updating more frequently. We have just been so busy.

I'll leave with some of my favorite pictures.

catching up.. yet again

I feel like I'm always catching up to this blog. This month it seems there's a lot of things I'm catching up to: the blog, Delaney's birthday celebration, and life in general.

Dash is now seven months old. He's become a good sitter and he's starting to enjoy being on his tummy a lot more. He is able to roll to toys now and EVERYTHING goes in his mouth. He's had one ear infection, numerous colds, and his teeth are just barely poking through.
Dash has had some rough sleeps at night and at naps with all those colds, but hopefully he's getting back on track.
I've started him in babygym and Delaney will be going to her friend Murphy's house to play while Dash and I get some Mommy-Son time.
Handsome little stinker..

Delaney has moved up from toddlergym and she now goes to Kindergym! It's a little different; the kids play on bigger toys and they are able to run around the whole gym. The songs are different, but believe me that's okay.
Delaney loved the trampoline at Kindergym.


She also enjoyed the circle time. They get to run around when they are introduced, duck duck goose style! Also, during parachute time, we walked in circles holding the parachute. It was a laugh out loud moment for her.

Last night, Delaney woke up around three am and decided to come downstairs. We woke up to her yelling pretty loudly. She's slipped down a few stairs, but other than a significant love deficit, she was no worse for wear.

Today we were talking to Brenna, who is going to be the godparent for both babies at their baptism, and I asked Delaney to tell Brenna where she went today. Without missing a beat, Delaney said "work". Brenna sounded like she nearly fell on the floor laughing.

Oh. and Grandpa Dale, Delaney just read a book about a big rig. We were talking about it at dinner, and she said "Papa Da-uh, tuck?", which means "Grandpa Dale, truck?". We told her that you would let her honk the horn and go for a ride. We're teaching her how to talk on her "CB" and say "10-4 good buddy". Now she just needs a handle.

Love to all